The president first unleashed a pair of tweets apparently prompted by an article published Thursday in the New York Times detailing the president’s private life and work schedule amid the coronavirus pandemic. Trump said he was “a hard worker” and labeled the report by Katie Rogers and Annie Karni “a phony story” that was “written by a third rate reporter who knows nothing about me.”

“I work from early in the morning until late at night, haven’t left the White House in many months (except to launch Hospital Ship Comfort) in order to take care of Trade Deals, Military Rebuilding etc., and then I read a phony story in the failing @nytimes about my work schedule and eating habits, written by a third rate reporter who knows nothing about me,” he wrote.

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“I will often be in the Oval Office late into the night & read & see that I am angrily eating a hamburger & Diet Coke in my bedroom. People with me are always stunned. Anything to demean!” Trump added.

….schedule and eating habits, written by a third rate reporter who knows nothing about me. I will often be in the Oval Office late into the night & read & see that I am angrily eating a hamburger & Diet Coke in my bedroom. People with me are always stunned. Anything to demean!

The people that know me and know the history of our Country say that I am the hardest working President in history. I don’t know about that, but I am a hard worker and have probably gotten more done in the first 3 1/2 years than any President in history. The Fake News hates it!

In a series of tweets issued minutes later, the president went on the attack once more, this time saying reporters who had received Nobel Prizes – misspelled as “Noble” in the tweets – for their efforts to report on the special counsel investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia should return the prizes.

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“When will all of the “reporters” who have received Noble Prizes for their work on Russia, Russia, Russia, only to have been proven totally wrong (and, in fact, it was the other side who committed the crimes), be turning back their cherished “Nobles” so that they can be given to the REAL REPORTERS & JOURNALISTS who got it right,” the president tweeted.

“When will the Noble Committee Act? Better be fast!” he added, repeating his misspelling of the Nobel Prize Committee.

When will all of the “reporters” who have received Noble Prizes for their work on Russia, Russia, Russia, only to have been proven totally wrong (and, in fact, it was the other side who committed the crimes), be turning back their cherished “Nobles” so that they can be given….

….Lawsuits should be brought against all, including the Fake News Organizations, to rectify this terrible injustice. For all of the great lawyers out there, do we have any takers? When will the Noble Committee Act? Better be fast!

The second set of tweets was widely mocked on Twitter over the president’s repeated misspelling of “Nobel” as well as the fact that there is no Nobel Prize for journalism. Two news organizations did receive Pulitzer Prizes – the highest award in journalism – in 2019 for Trump-related stories but neither of those stories focused on the Russia investigation.

A: The Somalis are also black and they’ve been disproportionately affected by the police activities. And if you go to the protests, they are more highly visible than before. The younger generation clearly came out this time. Probably they have more interactions with the police than their parents or they can relate more with the African American experience than their parents. I used to cover protests before. And this is completely different. I saw a lot of young Somalis participating, especially young females, wearing the hijab and all that.

We talked to a lot of people who say they are afraid of the police. When they see a police officer, they tense up. And those experiences show the lack of trust between the black community and the police. And it doesn’t matter whether you are a new immigrant or whether you were born here or whether your parents fled from civil war it’s almost the same experience as the African American community.

Q: And you mentioned that there can be kind of a generation gap between older Somalis and younger Somalis. Why is that?

A: The older generation, some of them fled civil war. They went through traumatizing events. They came here to have a better life and to raise a family, and all that, so they are probably more grateful to be here. And, you know, while their kids who were born here don’t have all that baggage, they see what’s going on. These kids, they went through the educational system. They have more history under their belt. They learned about inequalities and they experience them themselves on the streets. And that kind of creates a gap.

Q: I have seen some stories quoting Somalis talking about how they survived war, and they came to this country as refugees in search of safety, and now they’re finding themselves in the midst of this situation. Is that something you’ve been seeing? What is it like for them and what is it like for you, as someone who came to the US from Somalia years ago, to see violence erupting in this country?

A: I mean, the dynamics are different. But, you know, at the end of the day, it’s violence. And you know, buildings burned down and looting and all of that, some people get flashbacks because this reminds them of what they have fled.

But we know what’s causing this. And that makes a difference. In Somalia, people were fighting against each other. It was a civil war. Here it’s completely different. It’s a system against people. And you cannot compare those two. Here there are protests. If something is burned down, you can always rebuild a building that’s been damaged. But, the killing of George Floyd really shows how the system affects people.

Q: There’s also a geographic connection, right, between the Somali community and the part of Minneapolis where Mr. Floyd was killed?

A: Yeah, that area is actually one of the most diverse places in Minneapolis. There are a lot of immigrant-owned businesses and community centers and mosques. And it’s a vibrant corridor. And it’s the heart of a lot of Latino-owned and Somali-owned businesses. If you look at the stores damaged or businesses being affected, it’s predominately immigrant-owned.

Q: What do you want the world to know about the situation you’re seeing unfolding in your community right now? When you see national coverage of George Floyd’s death and the protests in Minneapolis, what are the stories you think aren’t being told that should be?

A: I think the human toll of this is something that I haven’t seen really being covered. The coverage tends to be a little bit disconnected from what people are feeling, their experiences, how they have been through this multiple times, how it’s affecting them, the trauma that this causes — the generational trauma. These kids, their parents, their grandparents, it’s something that has been going on for centuries. I think that hasn’t been explored enough. And, you know, the media tend to carry the official narrative and give more weight to that than the human voices and the community voices. I hope they will shift the focus a little bit and make it more human-centric, more community-centric than just you know, quoting talking heads or quoting officials.

You see young people being really frustrated and you wonder why. Why is everyone frustrated? Why do they hate the police? Why the cursing at the police? What’s causing that? I’m always more curious to learn about that than just covering the latest developments.

Q: And in conversations that you and your colleagues have been having with people, how have they been answering that question? Why are they feeling this way?

A: They’re saying the police harass them, they intimidate them even if they don’t do anything. They stop them when they’re even walking down the street. And that way of policing is something that really frustrates people. … You know, when you’re interacting with the young black person really upset and crying and afraid of the police, it breaks your heart. And that’s not what probably the white community experiences. And you just ask, why?

Q: What has it been like for your site to be covering this moment in Minnesota’s history, and in the United States’ history?

Q: What has stood out or surprised you as someone who is an expert in covering these communities and has been doing it for a while?

A: The diversity of the protesters. It’s really a lot of different communities, ethnic backgrounds. This case really hit a nerve and you can see that on the street. … I’ve lived here for almost 16 years. I have never seen anything like this.

You would hope that the Katai’s weren’t looking forward to an extended stay on America’s west coast.

If they were it’s all been scuppered by some strongly-worded Instagram posts from the player’s wife, Tea in which she called for people to kill protestors, which she referred to as ‘disgusting cattle’.

Now the former Alaves and Red Star Belgrade midfielder and his club have parted ways.

In what looks to all the world like a firing, LA Galaxy has called the move ‘a mutual decision’ between themselves and their player, who joined the club from Chicago Fire only in December last year.

The Galaxy released a statement condemning Tea’s since-deleted comments on Wednesday saying…

“Earlier today, the LA Galaxy were made aware of a series of racist and violent social media posts by Tea Katai, the wife of LA Galaxy midfielder Aleksandar Katai.

“The LA Galaxy stands firmly against racism of any kind, including that which suggests violence or seeks to demean the efforts of those in pursuit of racial equality.”

The player for his part had come out strongly following the comments, distancing himself from his spouse’s posts, although accepting full responsibility.

“These views are not ones that I share and are not tolerated in my family.

“Racism, particularly toward the black community, is not only prevalent in the United States and Europe, but across the globe. I strongly condemn white supremacy, racism and violence towards people of color. Black lives matter. This is a mistake from my family and I take full responsibility.

“I will ensure that my family and I take the necessary actions to learn, understand, listen and support the black community.

“I understand that it will take time to earn back the support of the people of Los Angeles. I am committed to putting in the necessary work to learn from these mistakes and be a better ally and advocate for equality going forward. I am sorry for the pain these posts have caused the LA Galaxy family and all allies in the fight against racism.”

It was not enough to save his LA Galaxy career with the club yesterday producing a terse and final statement confirming Katai’s departure…

“The LA Galaxy have mutually agreed to part with midfielder Aleksander Katai.”

Aleksander Katai with his wife Tea, author of the unacceptable Instagram posts in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

While Tea Katai’s comments are totally and unequivocally unacceptable, you wonder if the player himself has been treated fairly by the club. He did clearly distance himself from the comments, explaining they were not representative of his own views, and in fact verbally came out in support of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.

Is it right that a player’s future at a football club can be determined in this way by comments, no matter how disgusting, made by another family member, which in the days of social media he had very little, if any, control over?

Katai has ‘accepted full responsibility’, but it must be acknowledged that was part of a carefully worded statement providing apology and certainly designed to prolong his short LA career.

Or is it correct that the former Chicago Fire player is ‘found guilty by association’ and was rightly dismissed?

What do Impact fans think? Would you have expected Montreal Impact to fire a player under the same circumstances?

Poll

Are the LA Galaxy right in dispensing with the services for Aleksander Katai due to his wife’s unacceptable Instagram posts?

28%

Yes 100%. He has to go…

(2 votes)

14%

Not sure. It’s a grey area. I’m on the fence and think getting rid of the player is too harsh a punishment.

(1 vote)

57%

100% No. Katai should not be held accountable for the social media interactions of his wife or any other family member.

GOLDSTEIN: Media deliberately distorted what Trump said about George Floyd – Toronto Sun

Contrary to a globally reported blunder by the media on Friday, President Donald Trump did not say a positive report on U.S. job numbers was “good news for George Floyd.”

Here’s what Trump said:

“Equal justice under the law must mean that every American receives equal treatment in every encounter with law enforcement regardless of race, color, gender, or creed. They have to receive fair treatment from law enforcement. They have to receive it. We all saw what happened last week. We can’t let that happen.

“Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying, ‘This is a great thing that’s happening for our country.’ It’s a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality. It’s really what our Constitution requires and it’s what our country is all about.”

Clearly, Trump’s reference to Floyd was in the context of Americans agreeing everyone must be treated equally by police, not optimistic U.S. job numbers.

Despite their obvious blunder about what Trump said, which quickly went global and erupted on social media, few media organizations have corrected it.

Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden, reacting to the inaccurate media reports, said what Trump said was “despicable.”

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Some are now arguing it was outrageous for Trump to invoke Floyd’s name — he died in police custody, with the four fired police officers involved now facing a slew of major criminal charges — in any context.

But that deliberately ignores the point, which is that the media got the story wrong.

In another controversy involving Trump, a widely-circulated medical study published in the Lancet claiming patients with COVID-19 were more likely to die or suffer serious side effects from taking hydroxychloroquine has been retracted.

Based on this research, Trump was widely attacked for recommending the use of hydroxychloroquine and saying he was taking it himself to ward off COVID-19.

Trump should not be freelancing medical advice and it was dangerous for him to do so.

But as James Heathers, a research scientist at Boston’s Northeastern University, writing in the Guardian, observed, the retraction of the research paper is also alarming and potentially dangerous.

As Heathers wrote:

“The Lancet is one of the oldest and most respected medical journals in the world. Recently, they published an article on Covid patients receiving hydroxychloroquine with a dire conclusion: the drug increases heartbeat irregularities and decreases hospital survival rates. This result was treated as authoritative, and major drug trials were immediately halted — because why treat anyone with an unsafe drug?

“Now, that Lancet study has been retracted, withdrawn from the literature entirely, at the request of three of its authors who ‘can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources.’

“Given the seriousness of the topic and the consequences of the paper, this is one of the most consequential retractions in modern history.

“How did a paper of such consequence get discarded like a used tissue by some of its authors only days after publication? If the authors don’t trust it now, how did it get published in the first place?”

Heathers says the root problem is with the peer review process which, “at its worst … is merely window dressing that gives the unwarranted appearance of authority, a cursory process which confers no real value, enforces orthodoxy, and overlooks both obvious analytical problems and outright fraud entirely.”

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